Improvement in revolving railway-pilot



E. & A. WYCKOFF.

, Car-Track Clearer.

No. 38,622. Patented May 19, 1863.

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5 1 o l L Wnesses= y Inventor, /J Md dk f# j @w f 127% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

ELIAS WYCKOFF AND ABGALOUS WYGKOFF, OF ELMIBA, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING RAILWAY-PILOT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,622, dated May 19, i863.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ELIAS WYCKOFF and AECALoUs WYoKoEE, ot'Elmira, in the coun ty of Cheniung and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Revolving Railroad-Pilots for Removing Ob struc tions from the Track 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specilication.

Figure 1 is a plan of ourimproved arrangement as applied to the front of a locomotive, thesame being shown bottom upward; Fig. 2, a plan of the top of the same 5 Fig. 3, a central longitudinal section; Fig. 4, an end view ot' one ot' the pilot-rollers; Fig. 5, a view of aV portion of the frame, showing more particularly the spring forholdin g the axis of the rollers in place.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

Our improved machine is of that class in which revolving rollers or wheels are used in front of the locomotive for striking obstructions and throwing them from the track 5 and the invention consists in the peculiar arrangement of these rollers and the parts connected therewith, whereby the same are most effective in use, and whereby they are engaged and disengaged from the truck-wheels by a simple forward or backward movement of their inner contiguous journals.

The forward portion, A, of the locomotive, with which the operating parts are connected, may be of ordinary construction and mounted on the usual supporting-wheels, B B. Cen trally under the forward end of the frame is situated a longitudinal support, G, consisting of a nose or delector, a, in front and a sliding shank, b, in the rear, which rests and slides in suitable guides, c c, Fig. 3. The sides of the nose a are beveled off to form plane surfaces d d, Fig. 1, which receive the inner ends of journals f f of pilotrollers .D D, situated on either side, inclining backward gradually at such an angle as is best adapted to throw obstructions which they strike from the track. The opposite ends of the journals rest in the sides ofthe frame, and have pressing against their outer ends to keep them in place springs g g, Fig. 5, or some equivalent arrangement is employed to accomplish the same purpose.

`The pilot-rollers are preferably made somewith longitudinal ribs h h on their periphery. v

The angle of the rollers and their length is such as to bring their outer ends in engagement 0r gear with the inner sides of the forward truck-wheels, B, as clearly represented in Figs. 14 and 3. By this contact the engagin g-surfaces of the wheels and rollers may be so formed that the latter may be driven by friction alone, as not much power is required to give them motion, and the great momentum which they attain at ordinary speed of the locomotive is sufficient to throw ordinary obstacles from the track. We prefer, however, to use a peculiar gear adapted to this particular purpose, whereby not only are the pilot rollers easily driven at the angle at which they stand, but also without danger of breaking the cogs or teethfrom the great motion, or from suddenly bringing them into gear, as will presently be described. This gear consists of peculiarly-shaped cam teeth or cogs 7c k on the side of the truck-wheels, and similar teeth or cogs, Z l, on the end of the pilot-rollers, as shown most clearly in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. These teeth gradually project out from the plane andbevel of the roller and wheel at m to the edge n, which is rounded oft' to such a shape that when they come in gear with the opposite set the contact shall not be so positive and unyielding as to endanger the breaking of the parts, but shall be gradual and with a rolling or cam action, the rounded parts tting together so as to accomplish the action with but very little friction. The bevel of the inner surface of the wheels B is such as to give the teeth 7c an angle adapted to meeting the teeth Z on the rollers. The teeth of the contiguous wheel and rollerpoint in the same direction.

As it is not desirable at all times and under all circumstances to keep the pilot-rollers in action, our arrangement is adapted to throw ing them out of engagement. For this purpose, as before described, the support U is made to adj ust or slide forward and backward in its guides c c. The reaction is produced by means of a coiled spring, 1), or its equivalent,

secured at one end to the extremity of the shank b, and at the opposite to a projection, i", of the frame.

The forward movement to disengage thel parts is produced as follows: A handscrew, G, screwing into the shank, passes up through a gage-slot, s, in the top of the frame and through a lever, H, pivoted at t, Fig. 2, having thereon a head or shoulder, u, for holding on top of the lever to fix it in any position. To the opposite end of the lever H is attached a sliding rod, fu, by which the support U is adjusted forward and back. The position of the slot s is such that when then the screw G strikes its rear end the wheels and rollers will be brought into just the proper position to engage, without being thrown back so far as to produce undue bearing, friction, and grat ing. It therefore serves as a perfect gage under all circumstances, so that the spring P produces only the proper reaction to engage the parts.

By means of the set-screw G, when the parts are thrown forward to disen ga ge or un gear the rollers, the whole may be held in that position rigidly by merely turning said screw, thus holding the shank b closely to the frame. This arrangement is very convenient, the screw thus answering the double purpose of a stop and set. The rollers thus arranged have several peculiar advantages. By turning vertically in au upward direction,instead of horizontally, they have a tendency to throw ob'- structions up away from the track, and at the same time by being set at the angle or in the inclined direction described above they have a tendency to throw them outward. These two actions of the rollers combined have the best effect in clearing the track of all obstructions, whereas a horizontal wheel has only a single one of the actions. By this arrangement, also, there is no occasion for intermediate gearing in imparting motion to the pilotrollers, which, by any other arrangement, could hardly be dispensed with. The simple engagement of the wheels and rollers gives motion to the latter. An especial effect, and one that we regard as an important part of our invention, is that the wheelsA and rollers are engaged or disengaged by a single simple forward or backward movement of the inner ends of the rollers themselves, produced by the sliding of the support C. So far as we are aware, the arrangement for producing this result is new in this connection. A suitable guard, I, Fig. 2, may be employedl `above the pilot-rollers.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The vertically-revolving pilot-rollers D D, driven from the truck-wheels B B of the locomotive, or in an equivalent manner, and having their axes placed at such an angle that they can be thrown out of gear by a single forward movement of their contiguous journals, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The cam-tooth gear 7c l, by which the pilot-rollers may be thrown in or out of gear by an easy rolling motion, when at the highest steed, without the liability of stripping the teeth, substantially as herein specified.

3. ln combination with the sliding support C, the set'screw G, with its shoulder u, the gage-slot s, and lever H, arranged substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELIAS YCKOFF. ARGALOUS WYCKOFF.

Witnesses ROBERT SWAN, M. TILLoTsoN. 

